Father and Son

Acclaimed filmmaker Alexander Sokurov (RUSSIAN ARK) brings us this sensual study of the bond between a strapping Russian father (Andrey Schetinin) and his soldier son (Aleksey Neymsyshev). In a dreamy rooftop apartment overlooking the sea, the pair wrestle, lift weights, bond, pore over old photos of lost loved ones, and stare longingly into each other's eyes. Some neighbors and a girlfriend drop by, but this is a two-person movie all the way, with deep manly currents ebbing and flowing amid the hallucinatory fairy tale symbolism. The gorgeous photography by Alexander Burov bathes everything in a nostalgic golden light, as if it's all about to fade into one of the ancient photographs that adorn their walls. The presence of old radios playing endless variations on Tchaikovsky suggest this is all occurring in some timeless place of the mind, a notion confirmed as the father-son bond on display begins to dissolve with Oedipal inevitability. Despite associations one may have with gorgeous, half-naked men rel...